Welcome to the page for author Cindy Lynn Speer. It is wonderful that you came, hopefully you will find something nice to pass the time while you are here. I am the author of several books, including The Chocolatier’s Wife, Wishes and Sorrows, and hopefully soon you’ll be able to read my newest, The Key to All Things. You can find more info here. My tumblr and my blog are filled with things that make me happy …

I never really understood the idea of diaries. I had one when I was a little girl, a red marble, thick volume that was smaller enough to tuck in a pocket, it locked with a little gold key. For a while I kept a much more confessional journal online, which was really more to capture images and to release feelings than to tell you about my daily life, and then people I see often …

Last year, I got a check book sized planner from the Doctor’s office. I loved it, in the front it had a note pad for a to-do list, decent size spaces for scrawling stuff. I needed a book mark, so I used a post it note. I wanted to use this, not as just a day runner, but also as a bit of an accountability journal. Honestly, I don’t remember for very long what …

So, in my quiet time I did not only manage to read a book a day, I also watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It’s a 1950’s era drama about a woman who has everything, until her would be stand-up comic husband leaves her. In a wine-fueled rage, she takes to the stage at the place where her husband, Joel, just bombed and does a hilarious, spontaneous narration of what just happened to her. Thus …

What have you been up to of late? Recently, we shed ourselves of a fridge (still going and it was made in 1990) and a dishwasher (never use it – our water is very lime heavy, dishes never look clean so we end up hand washing everything anyway) so it freed up space. The dishwasher is “portable” so it had a nice butcher block top, and ended up being the resting place of the …

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but finding presents – or at least knowing what to get for people – can be a headache. May I suggest a few ideas? My books all happen to pair nicely with small things to create easy to pull together themed presents. The following can be made to fit to any price range. The only thing…well, they have to like to read! So, grab a …

Q: What got you interested in comedic science fiction? A: I loved scifi since I was a kid. Star Trek, Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers. It was hooked early on. And then as I got older Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Aliens, and Quantum Leap were some of my favorites. Q: I love the fact that your backpacking through Europe and New Zealand inspired your …

So, I told you all I know while it was fairly fresh. Other things you might want to buy: Sunscreen stick – it’s smaller than most sunscreens, AND it’s not a liquid. No Jet Lag – Maybe I am special and jet lag just didn’t bother me, but the No Jet Lag pills seemed to work. I felt fantastic my first day in England, and I was great to drive and did not feel …

Where are you going? Where have you been? The other way I saved time and money is through pre-buying passes. I mostly bought my stuff through Visit Britain’s shop: https://www.visitbritainshop.com/ You have to print them ahead of time, and I printed two copies…one for my back pack, one for my mother’s. I bought the Scottish Heritage Pass because I added the price to get into Stirling and Edinburgh castles and realized it was cheaper. …

So. Transportation is out of the way. But where do you lay your lovely head? For mum and I, hotels are usually the cheapest and most convenient we can find because we cannot stand camping another night in a row, or because if we skip camping and drive well after dark, we can position ourselves to launch to our next cool thing to do. We decided to really make the hotels a part of …

Or, now you’re on the ground, how to you get to where you want to go? I bought my pass through Visit Britain, but here is the info from the BritRail Pass site: http://www.britrail.net/passes Note the consecutive days are much cheaper than the flexible days. (I bought an Oyster Card the same day – a real must have! Cheaper and so easy to use.) I will be honest, I looked into car rentals enough …